The Communication Structure And Information Flow

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Part A

1) Communication Structure and Information Flow

a) List three (3) internal stakeholders of Micro-Ware Ltd and give:

i) Their personal agenda.

ii) The influence they are currently having on the organisation.

i) Rob-He thought that he was in line for the team leader of the production department when Manu left. He influences the company in encouraging staff to make right decisions and does not want the company to suffer from Jeff’s misguided direction.

ii) Jeff- Is the new general manager after Manu left. He wants to change the standard guidelines of the organisation database to make it meet better market standards. He encourages the technologists about the importance of marking their software ‘customer’ friendly.

iii) Ralph Yung- Is the CEO of the company. He has a job to hear and compute issues, suggestions and complaints according to the companies’ operational standing. Also does not favour company meetings to discuss issues. He tries to postpone any future changes in the structure of the company.

a) Outline the business demographics of the three (3) key teams and the three (3) individuals; Jeff, Ralph and Sally in the software company.

Technologist - was led by General Manager Manu until he resigned. It is the largest groups. Consists of mostly young technologist and staff are well paid. Use technology as there communication method

Marketing - Is led by Jeff and the small department has recently been setup. Prefers are social networking and staffs are well paid.

Administration - Sally runs the department with a small team. Consist of two women and an old man who is near retirement age. Are well paid and the staff have been in the company for 8 years. They prefer face to face communication or phone.

Jeff - A young marketing graduate who is seen as a potential star by the CEO. Is very ambitious and prefers team meeting. Jeff is paid above wages. He is however coming into a stage where he is not able to perform the tasks effectively and is taking the wrong path to prove himself to the CEO.

Ralph - Is the CEO in his early 40’s and has been in the company for 10 years. Relies on team leaders and is well paid. He prefers to have a quite word with the relevant team leader.

Sally – She is in late 30’s.The CEO relies on Sally for maintaining the communication line. She is responsible to communication with the various team leaders and senior staff. Is paid above average wages but feels undervalued.

c) The meeting Ralph called was not very successful. Outline a structured four (4) part procedure for organising and managing meetings that Micro-Ware Ltd can adopt.

i) Identifying a purpose – This is an important part as the staff will know the reasons for the meeting and what needs to be done and how.

ii) Selection of time, participants and facility – Participants which are involved in the meeting should be invited and given a fair chance to share their view on the topic discussed. To be given memos.

iii) Notice of meeting – All important and relevant details should be noted for future reference.

iv) Setting an agenda - Time when participants are allowed to get prepare ideas of productivity.

d) Explain six (6) ways in which the principles if group dynamics could be used to help solve the problems within the software company.

i) Cohesiveness- to maintain clarity and prevent misunderstanding of discussions or ideas. Norms- the rules and regulations standard set in order for the company to be more effective and functioning.

ii) Roles-Each staff has roles to perform in the company, if one does not perform his or her duties the company fails to meet required.

iii) Conformity-is when people in a group or company are comfortable with each other as their attitudes and behaviours match each other. This will form a strong bond with in the company and trust will increase.

iv) Groupthink-is very important as this will minimise conflict among members and will help reach the same decisions.

v) Advocacy-is where the company can build awareness among the public by using various methods of advertising and campaigns.

vi) Conflict- is the process by which members with differing ideas each believe that the other will act or is acting against them, and engage in behaviour seeking to damage the other group.

e) Outline three (3) ways a comprehensive intranet could improve internal communications at the software company.

i) Information Management – information is readily available to staff and accessible to authorised users. It saves time and money on other communication method.

ii) Productivity – it increases as info is already available. Work does not need to be stopped in order to make other time wasting communication to retrieve data.

iii) Time – Can be used for something more productive all the employee’s will have a clear understanding thus message is not misunderstood.

2) Organizational Goals and Policies

Identify six (6) ways in which any company can be deflected from its goals by communication problems.

i) Technical barriers- communication can be lost if disturbance occurs in the communication mode. For example video malfunction.

ii) Cultural Barriers- Staff may feel uncomfortable interacting ideas with people from different culture and misunderstanding can occur.

iii) Language Barriers- Staff might have difficulty speaking with other staff members who might get confused and different results are expected.

iv) Psychological/Emotional Barriers- Members of staff can play with other staffs feeling by receiving personal information about them. For example Margaret feels emotional pressure when Soma breaches her private life.

v) Process Barriers-the difference in understanding the process that is being used to achieve the goal can also create difficulty.

vi) Wrong channel-Goals are blocked by barriers if a wrong form of communication is used.

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b) Outline two (2) ways in which Jeff may be deflecting Micro-ware from its goals through his choice of communication methods and mediums.

i) Doing more number of meetings which causes stress and tension among the staff thus having an inability to perform and motivate them to reach company deadlines.

ii) Jeff is trying to prove himself more of a general manager by taking marketing to the peak of the company resulting in him obtaining copyrighted software from a larger company.

c) Explain two (2) things he could do to refocus and get everyone working on achieving the key goals.

i) Jeff should be more concerned on goals for each department and follow proper organisational guidelines to be a better and effective general manager.

ii) Jeff should also be encouraging staff to focus on organisational goals to obtain better and flawless results.

3) Organisational culture and ethics

a) From the case study outline how three (3) different aspects of Micro-ware Ltd.’s organisational culture and ethical behaviours impact on effective communication and its management?

i) Ethical Behaviours

- Jennifer has been found to be downloading stolen software and X rated images from the internet on the company computer; this shows the lack of security monitoring the computer system.

- The argument that occurred between Margaret and Soma has caused irrelevant tension within the team and company thus this decreases communication between them.

- Rob breaches privacy by accessing Sally’s computer when she got busy with other work.

ii) Organisational culture

-Each department has its own way of communicating with each other.

-Rob neglects to send the information via the chain of command as he straight away emails it to the chairman rather than the CEO.

-Ralph hides the fact from the team members that the company has had a down turn in work performance.

b) What two (2) breaches of privacy can you determine from the information in the case study?

i) Soma taking pictures of Margaret with mark and sending it to all the staff.

ii) Jeff used another company’s copyrighted information as his own.

c) Beyond the case study provide two (2) other possible ways in which privacy can be breached in a business environment?

i) Giving information to competitors.

ii) Asking details of medical and sexual history.

d) What copyright infringements can you determine from the information in the case study?

-Jeff as taken material which has a copyright without informing the copyrighter or the company which owns it. It is not legal to use other people’s material without their consent.

e) What are the possible implications of these infringements for the company?

- The company can be sued for millions as Jeff downloaded the copyright software through the company computer. The company will be legally charged for breach of copyright laws if the information is found to have been using the software. Also Jennifer can be charged for downloading stolen software online.

4) Current and emerging communication technology

a) Name five (5) types of medicated and/or face-to-face organisation communication strategies used in this case study.

b) Describe the purpose of each strategy.

i) Face to face communication – is very effective as people know how they are talking to and can ask questions if not fully understood. People will not get confused as to who requested certain things. Also if there is certain information which needs to be discussed in person, face to face communication is needed.

ii) Phone conversations – Quick and easy to access. Any enquiries can be finalized in one phone call. Heads of the department can contact their staff to inform them of any changes.

iii) Social networking- Used by the marketing team to discuss ideas and share the information.

iv) Electronic Communication – information can be sent easily through technology. It saves time and money sending them. Staffs can receive memos, alerts and also if any changes have occurred recently.

v) Snail mail-using a postal address or a regular mailing service.

c) Give an example of how each type of strategy is used.

i) The CEO Ralph Yung is described to not be a fan of meetings but prefers to have a face to face with the team leaders and lets them inform the team members. He saves time and unnecessary disturbance to the staff.

ii) As Ralph is about to start the meeting when he gets an urgent phone call and learn that he has to be Wellington in 2 hours therefore must leave immediately. Sally receives a phone call from the internet company which informs her that Jennifer has been downloading X rated images and has stolen software in her computer.

iii) Social Networking–The marketing and administration team used this as their communication medium.

iv) Electric communication – Sally has received calls from the internet company about Jennifer, she sent an emails to inform the CEO about it.

v).

d) Give examples of four (4) emerging communication technologies the software company could use to improve their internal and external communication.

i) Mobile Phone Access- fast and effective .email could be very helpful in sending vital information to all the staff.

ii) Instant messaging – staff could receive instant and quickly messaging via an internal server.

iii) Video Conferencing- allows staff members to view clients and other team member through face to face communication via satellite technology. Also help in sharing ideas and new technology.

iv) Social Networking sites –sites can easily help in getting in touch with each other, adverting new software and promoting the company.

560 BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

ASSESSMENT 3

2013

AKSHAY DEO

12030610

MUNA HALLIS

26/02/2013